Return to South Russia Considered

Joseph Merck brought his family from South Russia to Brazil in December 1910. Finding the living conditions completely unsatisfactory, the family moved on to Argentina after only two months in Brazil. They did not find what they wanted in Argentina either, and in 1911 Joseph wrote that he would be leaving South America. His army buddy, Johannes Bullach, wrote in a der Staats Anzeiger letter of May 26, 1911 that he advised Joseph that living conditions in Saskatchewan were much improved over South Russia. "I advise you not to return to Russia until you have seen North America and Canada. It cannot hurt for you to do so.", he wrote. He likely received similar advice from Eberle brothers-in-law in North Dakota, because that is where he headed when he was able to do so in 1912.